We left Vienna and the first stop was the border crossing between Austria and Hungary. One of the joys of travels is the toilets you experience! here, you have to pay 50c (half Euro = $1) for the second worst toilets in all the world!!! We were hearing about the Communist occupation of Hungary, and how the border crossing was closed for so long, and it certainly was a reminder of those days!
We had to change currency again. hungary has its own unit of currency the Forint. I changed 20 Euro and received 5040 Forint. It's all a bit confusing. Luckily most of the costs can be made by credit card, and the money is exchanged automatically.
Budapest is such a beautiful city. We started with a quick orientation tour of Buda. (This city is made up of two cities on either side of the Danube River, Buda and Pest). We went up Gellert Hill which was nnamed after the Roman Catholic Bishop of Hungary who had an unfortunate end at the hands of the Turks.... they put him in a barrell and rolled him down the hill! he died - poor chap! But they named the hill after him!
Our first Optional extra for the tour was a cruise down the River Danube, with lunch provided and free drinks! Woo hoo!!! it was a glorious day too, sunny and warm. Perfect for a river cruise. The guide gave us a commentary about all the lovely buildings that line the river banks. There is so much history attached to all the buildings. He also talked about Hungary's involvement in WWII and how it had been bombed etc... There are so many things I am so ignorant about!
After our lunch we went on a tour to the Buda's Castle District which offered breath-taking views of the cities and the Danube. Also in this district is the Church called Matthias Church, named after the King who wanted a nice Church for his two weddings (his first wife died!) so built this lovely Church on top of the hill. I'm having bad luck with Churches, because this one is also getting renovated. But the roof is covered with ceramic tiles. The inside is lovely and has stained glass windows depicting the life of St Elizabeth of Hungary.
Lastly we went over to Pest and were driven through the town and ended up at Heroes Square. Here again we heard about the 1956 Revolution when Hungarians tried to move away from Communist rule. Our guide told us that Hungarians have not won any wars since 906, so they don't have a lot to celebrate on their national days!
Now I've found that I have free interenet access in my room, so I'm away! Off for dinner soon.
Happy days.
Wow Moira, just reading your blog,is a history lesson for me! The buildings in both Vienna and Budapest look wondeful, but I can imagine the two cities feel quite different. I think most churches throughout the world must be under renovation, no doubt you will see others being renovated along the way. Anne x
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful city Budapest is - amazing architecture - Danube is brilliant - one of those bridges is awesome - chain bridge I think
ReplyDeleteJust loving your updates Moira, learning heaps just reading your news.Architecture there is stunning! Church roof is amazing, wouldn't want to have been the tiler!! Look forward to your next installment!! Michele xx
ReplyDeleteI think it's the history that really blows you away in the end - you put your hand on an old wooden door to open it and you know it is over 500 years old. You just have to stop and think about all the other hands that have done exactly the same as you are doing. It really is amazing.
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